Duke Head Coach David CutcliffeOn the game:“I think first of all you have to talk about the heart of the entire team, and we are a team. There were things that happened in the kicking game in this game. There were a lot of things that happened defensively – that was very evident to the naked eye. There were a lot of things that happened offensively in this game – some critical times where we were successful. We were 3-for-3 in red zone scoring chances, which is critical. We had a number of guys make big plays at critical times on offense. Do we have some things to correct? Absolutely. Which is a good thing. We’re going to have a bunch of hungry people offensively and some hungry quarterbacks to line up and some hungry coaches and it’s going to be fun to see us respond. The thing you have to do is, we have to continue to respond on defense and continue to respond in the kicking game. This team is only going to be as good as it is can be if we play all three phases as hard and as well as we can.”

On DeVon Edwards:“DeVon’s role has changed as the season has gone on. He’s also a starter now in the secondary, but he’s not asked to come off any special teams units. Certainly he doesn’t want to give up that kickoff return unit. I had believed in him since he was a high schooler. He and Leon Wright are in the records books together as the only two NCAA football players to ever have back-to-back interceptions for touchdowns. How appropriate because he’s really Leon’s personality. I don’t think he’s said a word still yet to the team, but a special young man. I told him this during the game. I said ‘DeVon, I believed in you and I knew who you were.’ He’s not very big. He was a great scorer in high school in basketball. But I went and watched him practice basketball and he thought every rebound that came off that board was his. He was the leading rebounder on his team in a very good league in the state of Georgia in basketball and was the leading rebounder in his district. Does that tell you something about a guy who’s about 5-8? A special little athlete and a great man.

On depth at quarterback:“Well I told our team after and I don’t mind saying I’m harder on our quarterbacks than I am anyone else. I had to apologize to them during the ball game. I wasn’t very pleased, but I do believe in them. I believe in who they are. We’re a team that’s gotten to 7-2 by different people doing what they had to do there. All three of our first, second and third-team quarterbacks have been on the injured and out list this season. Who else in college football has lived that? That’s a tribute to Kurt Roeper because whomever he’s had to get ready, they got ready and they played. So as we move forward I was asked by ESPN, ‘What are you going to do?’ Let me look at the tape and let us think a little bit. But you can bet both of them are going to play a role in this thing down the stretch, and that’s the best I can tell you up front about it.”

On remembering where they came from:“Well they do [remember where they came from]. I think the most important part of it is to remember who you are and why you’re better. We’re not better because we strut or because we’re so physically gifted that we’re going to “dominate anyone.” We are who we are because of the process. A process we believe deeply in. A process that’s been a part of what I’ve learned over a lot of years. And these guys buy into the process. They are the process. We better remember that. If we ever forget that we have no chance to be successful here. I’m very proud of their humility and I’m proud of their work ethic because I want them to take that work ethic that their learning here and apply it to the rest of their lives. Because that’s the most important thing they’re going to learn here. Not a route, not a coverage, not a block, not how to defend anyone. It’s going to be how to work and how to work every day consistently. Because that’s who we are and that’s the only chance we have to win and we better keep believing that."

Duke S DeVon EdwardsOn how he’s feeling after the win:“I’m feeling pretty good. I’m just glad we got the win. I’m a little tired, a little beat up, exhausted. It’s the best feeling in the world right now.”

On the kickoff return:“On film, he was telling us there’s a seam up the middle, there’s a seam up the middle all week. And the first couple kickoffs … they close up so fast, so I just trusted [my] instincts and just went before I even reacted, and it just busted wide open. I knew when I broke, I wasn’t going to let nobody catch me cause I already got tackled by the kicker one time. I wasn’t going to get another two weeks of that.”

On his first interception:“On that tipped interception, it was right after we had had a little busted play the play before. And I knew the defensive backs had to do something spectacular to get everybody back into it. So I just trusted my instincts. I [saw] him come into the flat and I was supposed to have the flat. But when the quarterback was running, I [saw] him looking to pass. So I just stopped. When he tried to throw the ball, I knew I could get it. He probably thought I was too short or something, but I know my athletic ability so I just jumped up and got it. I knew I had to score because the game was kind of slow at that point.”

On his second interception:“I was just staying back, reading. Our line put a lot of pressure on the quarterback, so I think he just tried to get rid of it and guess to where his receiver was supposed to be. I was just sitting, reading his eyes and when he just threw it up, I was the only one around so that was his loss.”

Duke OG Dave HardingOn the team staying tough in the fourth quarter:“I think that speaks to the hunger of this team. That’s the thought that came to my mind after when we were celebrating in the locker room; everybody’s just hungry and we’re not happy with … obviously nobody was happy with the way we were playing offense. It was up to us to make sure everybody picked it up and scored points when we had to.”

On the team’s philosophy:“Duke football is something that’s unique and special, and we have to remember what got us here. It’s hard work. It’s doing things the right way even when the right way may not be the mainstream thing to do. Coach Cut’s done a great job of reminding us of that. The only thing that got us here is sweat in the off-season and just working hard every day in practice. This team I think is committed to that process and we’re starting to see some of the results of that.”

On playing Miami for a chance to make the ACC Championship game:“Going into this year, this team definitely believed that we were going to be competitive and making a push for the ACC Championship. I don’t think anybody is really surprised by that. If you went and polled people down in the locker room, people would tell you we expected to be relevant, and so this was the first big step. We [have] to continue just winning games and we’re excited with the challenge we have with Miami senior day. It’s going to be a great crowd. I encourage everybody to come out like they did tonight. It’s great to see all the fan support and students. That means a lot to us. That definitely helped us pull one out today against a really tough NC State team.”

Duke WR Jamison CrowderOn the win:“Even though NC State, they had got some momentum in that third quarter right there. And on the sideline the whole team, defensively and offensively, we just said just keep playing, keep the game close and just waiting for somebody to make a play. Tonight, it was DeVon Edwards that made plays on defense. And offensively, we just wanted to make sure that we protected the football and were efficient on offense and that’s what happened.”

On the long pass in the first quarter:“It was just a play we had designed up, schemed up this week. [Anthony] Boone was able to put it on me. We called it and I caught it and the rest took care of itself. Me personally, I just want to go out there and make plays for the team. We got a group of guys in the locker room that has that same mindset.”

On remembering where they came from:“It’s a big part of our mentality, knowing that Duke football wasn’t once something that was big. And now we’re turning it around so every guy in the locker room, we have that same mentality of going out and giving it our all even to the end, whether we’re down or up. That’s what’s really pushing us this season to have a great year.”

NC State Head Coach Dave DoerenOn Duke’s fourth-quarter performance:“The game came down to the fourth quarter. Obviously Duke beat us in the fourth quarter today. The turnovers for touchdowns is what killed us, and I feel like there were 21 points on the scoreboard that our defense was not responsible for. Both defenses were back and forth at each other throughout the game. Duke’s a good fourth quarter football team. They’ve shown that all year, we talked about it all year, and we didn’t finish the game.”

On the big plays in the game:“We forced some critical turnovers. The big punt return Rashard (Smith) had and the long catch that we were able to have to Quintin Payton. The interception their team had. The fumble recovery their team had. The interception (Robert) Caldwell had. We made a lot of plays tonight against a good football team. We didn’t finish the game. That’s the most disappointing thing, and that’s what we talked about in the locker room.”

On his team’s response to the loss:“I feel like we lost a tough game a week ago to a rival, came back and fought and prepared the right way. It hurts to lose. These guys are going to continue to work and there is zero quit. I do feel like there was improvement made in a lot of areas, but when you throw interceptions for touchdowns and give up a kickoff for a touchdown, it’s tough.”

On his team’s seniors:“I am proud of what our seniors did this week from a leadership standpoint and the way the seniors played during the game. There were repetitive, reoccurring plays made by our senior class that means a lot. When you see a guy throw it in there and continue to fight for his football team. I’ve said it from the beginning and I’ll say it again. We’re going to continue to work and build this football program the right way. There will never be quit. We will not accept losing and will not make excuses, and neither will these guys. The sting of losing is there, but I also see improvement in our program. We’re going to go to Boston next week with the same attitude. Every single one of these guys and everyone in the locker room feels the same way. We’re sick of it, and we’re going to keep battling until we don’t taste it anymore.”

On the last five minutes of the game:“We threw interceptions for touchdowns and let it slip away. One of them he threw right into their guy and the other one, one of their guys made a heck of a play. Brandon (Mitchell) scrambled, David (Grinnage) was wide open in the flat, (Mitchell) threw it and the guy jumped up and tipped it to himself and made a heck of a play. Sometimes that happens. The other team makes plays on you. Yeah, we were playing great on the road. I thought, defensively, we played as good as we could. There were a lot of moments in the football game. Offensively, we’re fighting and scratching. We’re running the football, we’re moving down the field. We’re just not throwing the ball consistently, and that hurts you. You can see that in the stats. We have to get better in that area.”

On the team’s positive attitude following a loss:“I’m not a negative guy. I told them our seniors are doing everything they can and we need to win these next three games for them. That’s all I said in there. These guys threw it in. There’s a lot of hurt guys in there. They want to win. There was nothing negative coming out of my mouth in that locker room. It was about the positive things that happened. We talked about the plays the seniors made. We talked about the fact that we need to finish in the fourth quarter. I don’t need to beat these guys down. These guys are upset that they didn’t win.”

On not converting on Duke mistakes:“It’s frustrating when you create field position and don’t get touchdowns in the redzone. Part of that is we need to be able to throw the ball down there better. I keep telling you the same thing. We’re running the football effectively, it’s just the passing game right now needs a boost and we need to find ways to get there.”

On the starting quarterbacks:“We’re playing the best two guys we have right now.”

On the timeout called prior to a kickoff:“We didn’t have the alignment we needed in that situation. Obviously we didn’t want to get out there and have a guy run down unblocked. It was a mistake by one of our guys and had to call a timeout to fix it.”